UC football looks to snap a two game slide on Saturday at St. John Fisher College (2 p.m.)
Utica, NY (10/1/2013) – The Utica College football team will hit the road on Saturday to take on Empire 8 Conference foe St. John Fisher College on the turf at Growney Stadium. The contest is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.Â
BROADCAST INFO: All Utica College football games will be broadcast on the radio locally at WTLB 99.1 FM/1310 AM (ESPN Radio) by play-by-play man Dave Peroni and color analyst Fred Miller … Links for live stats and video for Saturday's contest are available on the Pioneers schedule page at www.ucpioneers.com, courtesy of St. John Fisher College… Live streaming audio can also be accessed on WTLB's website, www.espnur.com … Live streaming video for Saturday's contest can be accessed at www.empire8.tv.
GET THE APP: All UC football radio broadcasts on WTLB 99.1 FM can be heard on the new My Hometown Sports App. available in the Google Play store and on Apple ITunes ... It's a free App. so download today!
SOCIAL MEDIA: If you can't make it out to the game make sure to follow live updates on the Pioneers official Twitter feed, @UCPioneers … If you are at the game on Twitter, or talking about the game on Twitter, make sure to use #LetsGoUC … You can also "Like" the Pioneers on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCpioneers.
LAST TIME UC PLAYED FISHER: (11/10/2012) - The Utica College football team fell into an early 20-0 first quarter hole and could never quite crawl back into the contest as visiting St. John Fisher College handed the Pioneers' a 55-20 loss in the regular season finale for both squads on November 10, 2012 at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium … It was the final game of the season for the Pioneers, who finished the year with a 6-4 overall record (six wins tied the school-record) and a program-best 4-3 mark in conference play.
ALL-TIME AGAINST FISHER: Saturday's meeting marks the 13th year in a row these two teams have met … They have played each other every year since Utica began its program back in 2001 … The Pioneers are in search of their first-ever win over Fisher … The closest encounter in 11 previous meetings was back in 2008 when the Pioneers lost 17-10 at Gaetano Stadium.
LAST TIME OUT: (10/26/2013) – The Buffalo State football team scored 20 unanswered points in a span of one minute and 25 seconds late in the game to come from behind and defeat host Utica College 34-19 in Empire 8 Conference action at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium Saturday afternoon … The Pioneers led 19-14 with 11:42 to go in the fourth quarter, but two big touchdown passes from Buffalo State quarterback Casey Kacz and a fumble recovered for touchdown led to the 19 point victory for the Bengals … Utica's record dropped to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the Empire 8, while Buffalo State evened its record at 4-4 overall (2-3 Empire 8)… UC freshman running back Ryan Burnett had a fine game, rushing 15 times for a game-high 77 yards and one touchdown … Burnett's fourth quarter touchdown from 22 yards out gave the Pioneers a 19-14 lead with 11:42 to go in the regulation … UC quarterback
Connor Butkiewicz (Southington, CT/Southington) completed 27-of-49 passes for 232 yards and one touchdown pass to senior wide receiver
Jamie Murphy (Canadaigua, NY/Marcus Whitman), which gave the Pioneers a 10-7 lead midway through the second quarter… Murphy finished the day with four catches for 56 yards.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Pioneers hit the road for the third time this season, with their last road matchup ending in a 44-27 victory for the Pioneers over Frostburg on October 12, 2013 … UC is now 6-6 on the road dating back to the 2011 season.
EMPIRE 8 OPPONENTS: Three weekends ago against Frostburg, the Pioneers snapped a three-game Empire 8 Conference losing streak dating back to the end of last season … UC set a school-record with four conference victories last year … The Pioneers are currently 1-3 in the conference and have 15 victories against Empire 8 Conference opponents in program-history.
ON THE NATIONAL SCENE: As a team, the Pioneers currently rank 26th nationally and first in the Empire 8 in sacks allowed with an average of 0.86 per game … The Pioneers' secondary ranks 59th nationally and first in the conference after allowing just 176 passing yards per game … The Pioneers defense also ranks 28th nationally with nine fumbles recovered this year.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING:Â Utica senior running back
Jake Larson (Bemus Point, NY/Maple Grove) needs 341 yards rushing to become the College's all-time rushing leader … He currently has 1,430 yards on the ground for his career … Larson needs five rushing attempts to become the school's all-time leader in carries … Larson scored a rushing touchdown two weekends ago to extend his school-record to 21 career rushing touchdowns … Junior quarterback
Connor Butkiewicz (Southington, CT/Southington) moved into third place on the College's all-time passing yards list two weekends ago, he now has 1,988 career passing yards … Last weekend, Butkiwicz became just the third QB in school history to throw for ten or more touchdowns in a career … Junior receiver
Anthony Acevedo (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) needs 129 yards receiving to break the College's all-time record for receiving yards in a career … Former All-American
Jeremy Meier (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) '12 currently holds the school-record for receiving yards with 2,477 … Acevedo needs 13 catches to move into second place on the College's all-time receptions list – he currently has 164 in just over two and a half seasons … Acevedo needs 58 all-purpose yards to become just the second player in school-history to amass over 3,000 all-purpose yards in a career … In 24 career games Acevedo averages 122.6 all-purpose yards per game … Larson and Acevedo are two of just five players in program-history to total over 100 points in a career … Last weekend, sophomore kicker
Thomas Woodburn (West Islip, NY/West Islip) moved into second place on the College's all-time list for field goals made … Junior punter
Dakota Peel (Alden, NY/Alden) needs 170 punt yards to move into second place on the College's all-time list, he currently has 2,818 punt yards in less than three full seasons … Junior safety
James Lenahan (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) now stands alone in second place all-time with nine career interceptions.
ACEVEDO IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: Anthony Acevedo (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) currently ranks tenth nationally and first in the conference with 820 receiving yards … He ranks 11th in the nation and first in the E8 with 117.1 receiving yards per game and he also ranks eighth nationally with an average of 8.4 receptions per game … He has posted three games this season where he has caught ten or more passes … Acevedo needs 35 more receiving yards to eclipse his career-high for a single season … He also needs 15 catches to break the school's single season record for catches, set last season by All-American
Jeremy Meier (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) (73).
FIRST YEAR STAND OUTS: Freshman classmates Ryan Burnett and Jerred Beniquez are both having stellar freshman campaigns for the Pioneers … Burnett is coming off his best game to date where he led all rushers with 15 carries for 77 yards and a 22 yard touchdown run … Burnett is averaging a team-best 4.6 yards per carry this season … Beniquez has been a threat returning kicks all season and recently he has become a more intricate player in the receiving game … Beniquez is 158 kick return yards shy of breaking the school's single season record for return yards … He also has 11 catches for 76 yards this season.Â
LARSON HAVING A GREAT YEAR: Running back
Jake Larson (Bemus Point, NY/Maple Grove) ranks 22nd in the country and first in the conference with 10 rushing touchdowns this year … He also ranks 47th nationally and first in the conference with an average of 8.6 points scored per game … Larson has carried the ball 148 times for 579 yards … He is averaging 82.7 yards per game and 3.9 yards per carry … Larson needs three rushing touchdowns to break the school-record for rushing touchdowns in a single season.
LENAHAN GOES AND GETS IT: Junior safety
James Lenahan (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) ranks 12th nationally and second in the conference with an average of 0.7 interceptions per game … His four interceptions this season leads the E8 and he also has three pass break ups … Lenahan is three interceptions shy of tying the school-record for picks in a single season.
THE PASSING GAME: Junior quarterback
Connor Butkiewicz (Southington, CT/Southington) ranks 11th nationally and first in the conference with an average of 26.29 completions per game this season … He also ranks 41st nationally with a completion percentage of 63.2% … He has completed 184 of 291 attempts for 1,778 yards and nine touchdowns … His average of 254.0 passing yards per game ranks 34th nationally and second in the E8 … Butkiewicz needs 39 pass attempts to move into fourth place on the school's all-time single season list … He needs 222 yards passing to join 2012 graduate and current UC assistant coach
Andrew Benkwitt (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck) as one of two quarterbacks in program-history to throw for 2,000 or more yards in a single season.
GIAMETTA RACKING UP TACKLES: Senior linebacker
Joe Giametta (Seaford, NY/MacArthur) is tied for fifth in the conference with an average of 10.1 tackles per game … He is one of just six players in the conference to average 10 or more tackles per contest … He has totaled 71 tackles in seven games this season … He also has two sacks.
HANSEN HAVING A BIG SENIOR YEAR: Senior linebacker
Ryan Hansen (Woodcliff Lake, NJ/Pascack Hills) ranks seventh in the conference with an average of 8.6 tackles per game … He also ranks third in the conference with 10.0 tackles for a loss of 33 yards.
SULLIVAN IS A PLAYMAKER: Sophomore transfer
Mike Sullivan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro), originally from nearby Whitesboro, NY, currently ranks sixth in the conference with an average of 0.86 passes defended per game … He has five pass break ups and one interception … He also forced, recovered and returned a fumble for a touchdown in the Pioneers' loss to Ithaca two weekends ago.
TWO HEADED MONSTER: Senior wide receiver
Jamie Murphy (Canadaigua, NY/Marcus Whitman) and fellow receiver
Anthony Acevedo (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) rank third and first in the Empire 8 in receptions per game … Murphy's 6.9 catches per game is also 38th nationally … He has 48 catches for 377 yards and touchdown.
CHRISTOFFERSON ETCHING HIS NAME IN UC HISTORY: Two weeks ago, senior linebacker
Dana Christofferson (Richford, NY/Dryden) cracked the top ten list for career tackles at UC … He is climbing the ladder on the career tackles list as he is now tied for sixth all-time 198 career tackles … He needs just two tackles to move into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time list.Â
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